Engel Holds Off Vanthoor for Hockenheim Race 1 Win

Maro Engel fended off pressure from Dries Vanthoor to come out on top in Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS Sprint Cup Race 1 at Hockenheim.

Engel’s No. 48 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo and the No. 32 Team WRT BMW M4 GT3 were separated by 1.089 seconds at the end of the opening 60-minute contest at the German venue.

The two championship protagonists fought a fierce battle for the race lead with just under 15 minutes remaining.

Vanthoor attempted to pass Engel exiting the Turn 6 hairpin and then appeared to complete the move at Turn 7, which saw the No. 48 Mercedes-AMG forced to take to the circuit runoff.

The No. 32 BMW then subsequently ran wide at Turn 8, which allowed Engel to slip back past into the lead, where he would remain for the rest of the race.

Engel had moved into first place when he took over the mamba-liveried Mercedes-AMG during the round of mandatory stops after Lucas Auer tackled the opening stint.

Auer started third but moved up to second not long before the halfway point by passing the No. 14 Emil Frey Racing Ferrari 296 GT3 of Ben Green.

Second then became first when the No. 71 AF Corse Ferrari, which started from pole and led the first chunk of the race in the hands of Eliseo Donno, had a slow stop.

As a result, Thomas Fleming rejoined the race in fifth behind Engel, Vanthoor, Konsta Lappalainen and the No. 30 Team WRT BMW of Sam de Haan.

All three BMWs, also including the No. 991 Century Motorsport example, made rapid progress in the opening stint after being out of position after qualifying.

De Haan, however, was unable to hold on to the class lead after Fleming overtook him out of Turns 3 and 4 with under 15 minutes to go.

As a result, the No. 71 car came home in fourth overall behind Lappalainen, with De Haan and Calan Williams completing the overall top five.

Luca Engstler and Max Hofer took Gold Cup honors in sixth overall aboard the No. 6 Liqui-Moly Team Engstler Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2, with the No. 96 Rutronik Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R classified seventh.

Patric Niederhauser and Sven Mueller crossed the line behind both the No. 69 Emil Frey Racing Ferrari and No. 25 Sainteloc Racing Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II, but was promoted as those cars were given five-second penalties for track limit abuses.

Thierry Vermeulen and Giacomo Altoe dropped to eighth as a result, while Paul Evrard and Gilles Magnus were classified tenth behind the No. 159 Garage 59 McLaren 720S GT3 Evo.

The Bronze Cup victory went to the No. 991 Century BMW of Darren Leung and Dan Harper, with Leung maintaining the class lead after Harper had initially run as high as fourth overall in the opening stint.

RESULTS: Race 1